Journey for Power, War for the World
by Moonlit Writer's Sin
Summary: After Kid Buu's defeat, Gohan, unsatisfied with his power even after months of training the Kais, finds himself in Universe 6 to further his knowledge about the nature of powers at his disposal. But on U6's Earth, a war fought between ninja has Gohan caught in the crossfire, with the powers they wield pushing him on the brink more than he can handle.
1. The Start of a New Land

Months after the defeat of Kid Buu, and Gohan stood firm in front of his current mentor, King Kai noting his strength and giving a frown.

"Are there any more lessons or pointers that you could give me, King Kai?" Gohan asked, weighted training gear barely notable by that point.

King Kai looked at him briefly.

"You've gotten stronger than before, and you've already mastered my techniques. At this point, there isn't much else that I can teach you."

"Really? That's a shame." Gohan crossed his arms, eyebrows furrowed. "Thanks for all the help so far."

"You won't forget our deal, will you?" King Kai asked, and at his aggression in asking this, Gohan raised his hands in a "calm down" gesture.

"I haven't forgotten! I'll use the dragon balls to bring you back to life, the first chance I get!" Gohan reiterated the promise that had allowed the Kai to agree to training him in the first place.

In spite of the events turning out for the better, as they often had when his father had intervened, Gohan had been wrought with a sense of inadequacy whenever he thought back to the day Buu had been released, as well as all that had happened afterwards, not least of all Earth being destroyed.

Though his power in his Ultimate state (or Mystic state, no one was quite sure what they were supposed to call it, not even the person who'd granted it to him) was enough to trump Gotenks even at his full power, as well as his father, as evidenced by the fights they had after the fact, the memory of his inability to step up when it mattered the most gnawed at his psyche, enough that he had sought out King Kai and the others to train under.

Under the tutelage of the four Kais, his powers had grown intensely in his normal state; in light of his Ultimate state supposedly functioning to put him at the absolute peak of his potential, later interactions with the Elder Supreme Kai rectified this, as he explained that his Ultimate state only brought him to the peak of the potential he had at a certain point in his life span.

Knowing that he would have had great power if only he'd applied himself prolifically to training, it acted as a secondary incentive for him to work at his hardest.

Now, however, mere months into the training, he'd found himself having mastered them all.

"Still, aren't you tired? You have to let your body rest up some too." King Kai warned him.

"I want to make sure that I'm as strong as possible." Gohan responded, before giving a sheepish smile. "Really though, it's been a lot of fun training under you. Thanks again, King Kai."

The North Kai smiled at him.

"Just don't forget your promise. That's all I ask."

Gohan nodded, then looked up.

"Could I ask you a small favor though?" Gohan asked.

King Kai agreed, and in the next few minutes' time, he stood on the Planet of the Kais, courtesy of Kibitokai, the Supreme Kai, teleporting him there.

"You said that you wanted to train under us?" Kibitokai asked as he looked to the much taller youth, Gohan nodding.

"Is there anything that I can do to keep getting stronger?"

Elder Kai chuckled.

"If you've trained with all of the Kais, I doubt there's much else that can be done for you, at least here." He lamented, before perking up. "That gives me a thought though — why don't you try your hand at going to another universe?"

"Another universe?" Gohan quirked an eyebrow, looking to Kibitokai for explanation, but when the Kai showed equal amounts of confusion, Gohan had half a mind to wonder if it was a joke.

"Neither of you know? Just what are they teaching kids these days." Elder Kai scoffed, both of them frowning.

"Isn't the universe everything in existence?" Kibitokai asked.

"Or... maybe another timeline?" Gohan asked, mind hearkening back to the entire debacle with Cell.

"No, no! This is just one of 12 universes in existence!" Elder Kai explained. "All the universes as a unit are called the Multiverse!"

"Huh?" Gohan and Kibitokai said in unison.

Elder Kai kept speaking regardless of this.

"To wit, each universe is part of a set of pairs — each one assigned a number that equals 13! If we go to Universe 6, it might be a place you can learn from too."

Gohan hadn't been entirely convinced, but figured it couldn't hurt to try.

"It's probably worth a look. It's hard to think that there are entire universes out there — it should be interesting, at least."

"Let's go then. I'll lead the way." Elder Kai reached his hand out to them. "I'll take you to Universe 6's Earth, for starters. Best to start with what's familiar before branching out."

They took the elderly man's hands, them being warped away in a flash of light.

As soon as Elder Kai teleported them to the surface of the planet in question, everything about it felt immediately different to Gohan, whose eyes widened as he felt a distinct pressure closing in all around him, enveloping him.

"What — what's this pressure?" He asked, voice a bit forced out.

"This version of Earth is a similar to yours, but different." Elder Kai explained, looking about. "While yours has life forms that have access to ki, in small, normal amounts, this planet has life forms that have a deeper, stronger form of ki, called divine ki. It's so omnipresent that you it can be felt in the air and soil."

"What's the difference between them?" Gohan asked, looking around himself, them being deep in forest, brimming with life, the sound of cicadas ringing out all around him. "I can't sense any energy from anything here. It's like swimming at the bottom of the ocean, where you can't see anything around you, but the pressure's closing in around you."

"That's exactly it. It's a more powerful form of ki, but one that normal people aren't able to sense easily. But even without being able to sense it, it doesn't take away from their ability to feel that it's there." Elder Kai strolled forward. "Let's try finding a settlement that you can train in."

Gohan shared a look with Kibitokai, who smiled with a shrug, them looking back to see the Elder Kai looking back to them.

"Come along now! You can't expect to get any better at this without moving."

The pair walked behind him with this, following the Elder Kai's path as they went.

* * *

A/N: I was originally going to make this another Gohan/Harem story, but I decided that if I _did_ do that, it'd be after I'm finished with the main story, since it wouldn't exactly be appropriate in the interim of a war arc.

So not exactly in this immediate section of the story, at the very least.

As for the whole thing about divine ki being what made the equivalent of chakra, I personally just felt that it seemed like the logical step in logic to make, between the whole thing with Kaguya establishing how chakra and ki are not really the same thing at all (or at least don't follow the same logic beyond both being power meters that doubled as power levels).

Beyond that explanation, I felt making the Naruto Earth the Universe 6 Earth would have been fitting at least from the duality perspective; U6 Frieza is a conman who runs a syndicate where Frieza's a warlord, U6 Saiyans seem to be decent people and war heroes instead of space pirates (but don't all have Super Saiyan), the U6 humans being niche divine ki users that are well aware of how those powers function, and have shaky technological advances (Gigguk is right, I really have no idea how advanced Naruto is supposed to be), where U7 humans are sort of just super advanced sci-fi nuts that have no divine ki at all.

As for how Universe 6 got nuked and wiped of all life in the main Super timeline... I'm still not sure about how that happened, or how to explain how it happened by Naruto logic except for Toneri destroying everything or some other Otsutsuki popping up and doing that.


	2. A Modicum of Context

"I guess it goes without saying you won't just tell me where you hid the Rinnegan—ah, I mean Nagato."

Konan's eyes narrowed at the swirl masked figure before her that had asked this question.

"I had a feeling you would show up here, sooner or later."

He paused, gauging her with his singular eye.

"I have to ask — why would members as loyal to me as you two decide to betray me? Do you truly believe that Naruto Uzumaki is worthy of the faith you place in him?"

"He is like a light in the darkness. We can all carry our hopes in him." She answered firmly.

"You've decided to make a stand against me, and yet you still wear the robes of the Akatsuki?"

"Yahiko was the one who founded the Akatsuki. We created these robes as symbols of justice. And like it, the Rinnegan was something that Nagato awakened to, something sacred to our village. They was never yours."

The man calling himself Madara Uchiha chuckled.

"You're wrong on two counts. But since you're about to die, I'll enlighten you about the truth."

"?"

"I was the one that put the idea of the Akatsuki into Yahiko's mind, and I was the one who gave Nagato the Rinnegan. You could say I'm taking back what's rightfully mine." He dipped his head and chuckled. "But no matter. You're just an ignorant girl who has what I want. Once I've captured you, I'll have my way. You shouldn't overstep your boundaries any more than you have."

Her gaze fixed on him, she sighed.

"There's no point in talking. It's all a farce. You've never dictated our destiny — Nagato, Yahiko and I walked our path of our own free wills."

"Then you'll die just the same as them."

He began to walk forward, toward her, and Konan raised her hand, chakra laced paper splintering off of her body.

"No — you won't be the death of us, of our dream. I'll make sure of that."

"I welcome you to try — show me your fangs properly, if you plan on upholding their empty ideals."

* * *

Arriving at an industrial settlement, the rain that surrounded the area beat down on them, Gohan looking about as Elder Kai walked up to the entranceway, where a group of people armed with spears stood, aiming their weapons towards them when they grew too close.

"What's your business here?" One of them asked, warily looking to the three.

"Oh? You're being quite hostile." Elder Kai noted blithely, looking up at the spear aimed at his face. "Aren't we allowed to enter?"

"Visitors aren't allowed at the moment." Another guard said, all of them bearing grave expressions.

Elder Kai looked to the side for a long moment, the ground suddenly rumbling beneath them, before he shook his head.

"I guess it can't be helped then."

He turned around, strolling casually back to Gohan and Kibitokai, who both gave curious looks to him as he stopped in front of them.

"Come along now, this isn't the place for us."

Holding his hands out for them to take, the pair gave a strange look before complying, Elder Kai teleporting them away — deep inside the village hidden in the rain.

* * *

Appearing in the outskirts of the area, they found themselves standing on top of a building, overlooking the aftermath of an explosion.

"Where are we?" Gohan asked, looking around.

"There's something we have to do here." Elder Kai said, walking to the edge of the roof they stood on. "Do you two see those two down there?"

Gohan looked, seeing a masked man standing on the waters, behind a woman who sat on her knees in exhaustion.

"What happened?" Kibitokai asked.

"I'll explain it to you later on." Elder Kai promised. "But you two need to help that woman down there — go, now."

They wanted to offer a rebuttal, but they saw the man brandishing a weapon intent on stabbing the woman in the back, and both moved.

* * *

In that specific moment, several things that Konan hadn't expected to happen happened all at once, thrice over.

The first was having the relief of having blown her enemy into oblivion get swallowed up by a brief lapse of confusion and shock on realizing that, not only did the several hundred billion paper bombs she'd tried killing him with had somehow failed to do him in, he had gotten behind her in all the madness, with such killing intent that she could feel it before he'd even revealed himself fully to her.

The second involved someone appearing before her in a burst of light, firmly grasping her shoulder, whispering something frantically, before she too was engulfed in light for a split second, suddenly finding herself on the top of a building, looking down over Madara Uchiha.

Finally, a blurred figure that shot through the air, in that same instant she'd been teleported away, came to Madara's side and swung its calf harshly into his side, the force of the blow sending Madara flying through the air a brief moment before he flipped himself back and landed on his feet against the water.

All of these happening in quick succession of one another, Konan could only give a blanked out expression, saying what any person in her position would ask.

"What the—?"

* * *

"Who are you?" Madara asked, standing up while dipping his head, the effects of his usage of the Izanagi coming on already as he lost the use of one of his eyes. "I don't recall your face."

He stood straighter than before a moment later, body regenerating rapidly despite the injuries his body sustained, Gohan forming his fists into tight balls before his energy burst around him in hazy white aura, rippling violently around him before he sped himself forward at Madara at great speeds.

"I've only got one hand — I'll have to make do."

He braced himself, gauging Gohan's rapid approaching speed before his Sharingan flared with energy, Gohan firing a flurry of energy balls into the waters that exploded, sending up a thick haze of fog that blanketed the air as a smokescreen, but Madara's Sharingan alerting him to Gohan's approach, how he fired a ball of energy at him, Madara side stepping the projectile, when, in an instant, Gohan appeared behind him in the ball's path, him having anticipated the dodge, swinging his forearm into it and sending it hurtling towards Madara's back, only for it to phase through his body with the Kamui.

Despite this, Gohan's action hadn't stopped, him speeding around Madara at high speeds to send it back towards him again in the same manner as before, with Madara finding himself dodging by way of jumping over it, the speed with which Gohan moved making naught but blurs appear to the naked eye, afterimages that disappeared as swiftly and abruptly as they appeared, Gohan firing additional balls of energy at Madara that made the unseen space become like a cage, the energy balls whizzing through the air at such speeds they were like arrows of light zipping about Madara.

All throughout, Madara kept an active gauge of how much time remained before his Kamui would reach its limit, his Sharingan able to track Gohan's throughout the afterimages, how he concentrated a ball of energy in one palm as he kept throwing the total of five energy balls at him with every dodge.

He kept moving with this in mind, waiting and watching, before he saw Gohan about to fire the concentrated energy at him, Madara using his eye to absorb some of the energy balls headed towards him in that moment, Gohan giving a confused expression on finding himself swinging his forearm at thin air, only to find Madara gazing his way, a temporal shift happening that centered around his eye, before he shot his own ki blasts directly at Gohan, Gohan scowling before he thrust his palm directly at the barrage, firing a beam that made the energy balls explode on contact, Madara speeding forward amidst the explosion, weaving out of the way of the beam, before a harsh punch to the side connected with Gohan's side, the force of the attack cracking his ribs and blowing him through the air, body hurtling like a rocket, before Gohan gathered his bearings, noting he was going past the speed of terminal velocity, and ramming a palm into the waters under him to send himself flying up into the air, him recovering in mid-air to look down at Madara.

"An interesting ability, but it won't be enough to defeat me." Madara said up to him. "It will take more than that to defeat me — stay out of my way before I erase your useless life from existence."

Gohan scowled, then closed his eyes, concentrating on his Mystic state, how it affected his body, before he invoked King Kai's technique, "Kaioken!" and was consumed in a crimson hue of energy, him bursting down towards Madara, who regarded his actions, but raised his hand in challenge anyhow, Gohan's first punch getting batted away by Madara's hand, a fierce backlash sending a wave of force into the waters behind them, disrupting the water that Madara stood on, Gohan swinging his leg up to Madara's chin to kick it, yet as his foot phased through his head, Gohan swung his leg down down in an axe kick that Madara phased through as well.

'It's like fighting a ghost!' Gohan mentally thought, only for Madara to enact his Kamui, a spatial rift opening up that acted to suck him in, Gohan being engulfed in the pressure trying to pull him into the hole he had created, Gohan struggling to resist it as it pulled him deeper and deeper inside.

"Times 5!" He yelled, trying to fly back, but the pull was too strong even for this.

"You see it, don't you?" Elder Kai asked Kibitokai as they watched.

Kibitokai nodded as he utilized his divine sight to perceive the dimension that Madara had opened up, then yelled "Kai Kai!", him getting teleported to his destination.

As abruptly as the Kamui had been activated, it suddenly stopped, with Gohan launching out of the disrupted worm hole's grasp, him looking to find Madara disappearing.

"Come on kid, we have to get moving!" Elder Kai yelled down at Gohan from afar.

* * *

"What?!" Madara exclaimed in baffled confusion, having been blown forward by a ki blast to the back, finding Kibitokai behind him. "How are you here?"

"It's rare to see anyone with the power to have a pocket dimension on hand." Kibitokai noted, walking forward. "Especially a human such as yourself."

Madara narrowed his eye, and Kibitokai did the same.

"While Gohan is more powerful, I still have more divine ki inside of me. So I'll be your opponent."

They held one another's gazes briefly, Kibitokai entering a fighting stance, before he sped forward, Madara raising his singular palm and sending cubes of earthen metals down at his opponent, who shifted to fire balls of energy to blow them back, unable to properly blow them up because of the divine ki they had embedded inside of them, Madara shifting their path of movement in response to create a path out of the blocks, upon which Madara sped forward to meet Kibitokai's charge, drawing a kunai that he threw at him, Kibitokai raising a hand that halted it in its path before he telepathically hurled back at Madara, who ducked under it, Kibitokai concentrating telepathic energy into his palm that he thrust forward towards Madara, who, sensing his intent, stamped his foot and hurled himself into the air to dodge out of the attack's way, Kibitokai seeing the ninja doing a front flip that shifted into an axe kick down at his head — "Kai Kai!" — a teleportation to behind Madara having the kick ram into the ground and create a massive crack, the dimension quaking briefly before Madara whipped around.

Left with fewer options without his right arm at his disposal, he enacted Kamui as Kibitokai shot another wave of telepathic force towards him, Madara rapidly closing the portal by sucking himself out of the dimension, towards where he'd sent it, before reopening the portal and appearing before Kibitokai, closer than before, redirecting the force directly back at him and blowing him back.

As this happened, the Supreme Kai grit his teeth, then looked to the large cubes Madara once again used as projectiles as they hurtled up at him, him concentrating his power and roaring out before an expanse of telepathic energy erupted around him, freezing the projectiles in place, them gripped between Madara's control and Kibitokai's own, before a secondary wave sent them back at him, Madara scowling, but responding to the attack by concentrating chakra into his feet, haunching himself up at one of them, then beginning to parkour jump between the sides of each one at rapid speed towards Kibitokai, whose eyes widened, the Kai not seeing it coming when he sent another cube shooting into his back, Madara's attempt at drawing a kunai to stab him with begetting another teleportation out of him that made Madara smirk, him landing against the side of the cube, fingers laced with chakra as he stuck to the side of it and looked back to find Kibitokai floating near him, him having the cube rotate in a manner that enabled him to stand on it after pushing himself up to his feet.

Still using chakra to anchor himself to his foothold, Madara continued using his cubes to hurl them up about at Kibitokai, while moving his own foothold forward as well, the Supreme Kai proceeding to start going about firing beams at the approaching attacks, the power behind them shattering them, and yet Madara used the splintered remains to barrage them into his opponent anyhow, Kibitokai, scowling to himself, acting to fly to him, Madara watching as he neared striking distance, Kibitokai thrusting his fist toward Madara's torso, but him shifting out of the way, letting one chakra laced foot her loose and countering with a knee into the Supreme Kai's stomach, the wind getting knocked out of him, but him persisting, arms wrapping tightly around his knee and forcibly swinging his body around him with a grunt, tossing him away, Madara using the inertia to his advantage to spin around while making the cube he was still latched onto to swing at Kibitokai, the impact sending him flying back-first into the wall, Madara unrelenting as he began to shift the fractured pieces of earthen metal from before into a spear shaped projectile, upon which he sent it flying towards Kibitokai, him looking at the incoming projectile about to impale, before electricity sparked along his palms.

"Kai Kai!" He roared, energy bursting to life at his palms at the last second, him teleporting before Madara, the power brimming from his hands intense, but him thrusting his palms forward, invoking an ancient but forbidden technique to channel his own life force into the attack.

"Kamui!" Madara spoke in turn, just as Kibitokai released a massive, intense beam that was absorbed into the temporal hole that Madara had opened up, Kibitokai gritting his teeth, pumping more energy into it, before he snarled out, the intensity of the beam overflowing and overwhelming that of Madara's Kamui, Madara gritting his teeth, almost enacting Izanami a second time, but stopping himself, as he knew he couldn't afford to do it again under his circumstances, and getting shot through the air with the attack, back ramming into a wall, before he was engulfed in an explosion that was blinding, Kibitokai gasping as the light faded, his entire body shaking uncontrollably.

"... he's still breathing?" Kibitokai asked to himself in disbelief as Madara grunted in pain, clothes rags, but the ninja's body regenerating rapidly.

Madara, his mask breaking down, chuckled lowly to himself.

"That was a close one. I really could have died from that."

Kibitokai's mind screamed at him to finish him off, knowing what was liable to happen if he didn't, but his body was too damaged, externally and internally, and he grit his teeth, teleporting out of the dimension, reappearing where Elder Kai was, him still with Konan, Gohan having come back to them, them inside of an embalmment room where two men were laid to rest.

"I'm sorry." Kibitokai managed to say. "I couldn't finish it."

He began to collapse to the ground, Gohan catching him just before he'd blacked out.

Elder Kai, having watched it all, shook his head.

"There's no point in wasting your life trying to stop bad things from happening."

Watching this happening, Konan wore a confused expression, then looked at the pair of people remaining.

"You promise that you'll be able to protect Nagato and the Rinnegan?" She asked again.

Elder Kai looked to her, then down to the body of a red haired, purple eyed man.

"It will be safer with us than it would be here." He said.

Konan frowned, but, knowing she couldn't leave herself open to attack in trying to protect Nagato from another attack, she relented, and Elder Kai went about teleporting the lot of them back to the Planet of the Kais.

* * *

On arrival, Konan found herself looking about herself, seeing the idyllic world all around her, and pausing at the serene beauty of it.

"Is this... the Pure Land?" She half-mindedly asked aloud.

Gohan sat beside Kibitokai as he found himself able to breathe and move much more easily, holding a hand over his heart.

"Can you explain to me what you know, Elder Kai?" Gohan asked, looking to him.

"I've been keeping an eye on Universe 6 for some months now. I found myself quite captivated by the way things were there. But I could sense that there was a powerful being sealed there — someone far, far worse than Buu ever was. Concerned, I started doing some investigations of my own, and with the Namekian dragon balls, I asked for knowledge about the person inside of there, and how to keep them from being unsealed. It was through that that I learned about how the humans there gained the power of divine ki — or "chakra", as they called it. A clan of people scoured Universe 6 in search of viable planets to plant Trees of Might in, trees that drain the life force of an entire planet and concentrate it into a singular fruit. This clan, the Otsutsukis, named these trees God Trees, which would bear fruit brimming with divine energy when planted on the right type of planet. Among them, one person ate the God Tree fruit from Universe 6's Earth, and gained immeasurable power from it, a woman named Kaguya. In the end, however, she grew monstrous from her own power, and was sealed away by her two sons after she tried to transform all life on the planet into her minions."

"But what does that have to do with them? Was the person we just fought trying to unseal Kaguya?"

"To my knowledge, they weren't. He has his own ends to work towards. But it still involves gathering the pieces needed to unseal her, the Rinnegan and the fragments of her powers that her sons made before sealing her." Elder Kai looked to the body of Nagato. "As near as I can tell, these powers aren't the sort that should be in any person's hands."

Konan, having listened to all of this, found herself looking down in thought, processing the clusters of information that had been hurled to her over the span of the last hour or so of her life.

"Is there anything that I can do, to help with this?" She asked them, standing up.

Elder Kai stroked his chin in thought.

"You have a better grasp of the planet than we do. So it really depends on whether you're planning to fight them again or help us in another way." He looked to Gohan. "Do you want to involve yourself in this, even if you don't have much of a stake in fighting?"

Gohan frowned.

"It honestly depends on the situation. If people need help, then of course I'll give it. But even with that explanation, isn't the job done? Can anyone even use the Rinnegan if it's still here?"

"Madara, the man we all just fought, still has access to the tailed beasts' powers." Konan said, before looking to Elder Kai. "I take it the Beasts are the fragments of Kaguya's power that are needed to awaken her?"

"That's right."

"Madara started a war with all the nations of the world to try and gather the remaining two hosts of the last Tailed Beasts he hasn't captured yet. Even without the Rinnegan to enact his plans, he would still have immense power at his disposal if he managed to utilize it."

"Wait, what does Madara even WANT with all that power?" Gohan looked between the two in confusion.

Looking down, Konan explained it to him, the Eye of the Moon Plan, Project Tsuki no Me; how Madara planned to go about gathering the Tailed Beasts and the Rinnegan, then using that power to force all of mankind into an eternal dream, so as to erase all conflict from the world.

Gohan regarded this information with surprise, but it was enough for him.

"I'll do whatever I can then." He decided. "I just have to figure out how to go about fighting on that planet. I can't sense anyone's ki, or chakra, and I could tell, even the couple times when my attacks managed to land, they didn't do much of any damage. Is that just how it is for divine ki users?"

Elder Kai thought of how best to explain it.

"Divine ki is just a stronger version of normal ki. But that doesn't mean that one is automatically better than the other. If you get to a certain point, it really won't matter whether you have divine ki or normal ki."

"It's... almost like having two forms of currency, right?" Gohan asked, grasping his chin in thought. "One might have a higher form of worth by itself, but if you gather enough of the one with lower worth, then that can be just as valuable?"

"Sure kid." Elder Kai nodded. "Really, if we want to put it in those terms, you could say that in your Ultimate form, you're about as powerful as one of the people they call Kage down there. Your speed may be greater, but the power output puts you there. The only issue is, all types of divine ki act like buffers to other kinds of ki. It's like a shield that keeps people from getting hurt by lesser forms of ki. The only types that usually can stand up to it are other users of divine ki, at least on even footing. Of course, it's possible for someone to get to the level where that buffer doesn't make much difference in the power difference. Unfortunately, that puts you at a disadvantage."

Gohan gave a downcast look, before it became resolute, looking to his palm before clenching his fist with determination.

"I'll just use my other powers to make up for the difference then."

"That being said, your Ultimate state creates a small amount of divine ki, because of how I did the specific ritual." Elder Kai added. "My advice to you is to augment that slither you have and use it to make your power that much more effective against them."

"But... how do I do that?" Gohan asked with confusion.

Elder Kai looked to the sky, then bore a perverted grin.

"I can think of a certain person who can teach you." He giggled, Gohan giving a weirded out expression.

* * *

From her seat in the Hokage office, Tsunade Senju felt a strange chill run up her spine.

"Lady Tsunade?" Shizune looked to her with concern. "Are you alright?"

"... those reports confirmed there aren't any spies in the vicinity, watching me, correct?" She asked.

"Yes?" She gave her a strange look. "Why do you ask?"

"I can't shake the feeling that someone's watching me." Tsunade glared out the window behind her with a scowl.

* * *

A/N: It was a weird, jarring experience writing people from DBZ/DBS using Naruto terms and names.

It was also weird doing research for this chapter to trying to get as coherent a read on how much my outline conflicted with the canon to fix any mistakes.

As long as it turns out fine in the end though, and everyone reading is enjoying themselves to some degree, that's what's important.


	3. Mentor Entry Test

After an ample amount of time spent searching about the areas, Madara scowled behind his mask on returning to his hideout.

"Were you successful in retrieving the Rinnegan?" Kabuto's voice spoke behind him, Madara looking behind himself to the reptilian man in red robes.

He was silent, before gazing back forward.

"I was unable to. The Rinnegan disappeared completely when I tried to find it. Even after I tore the entire Hidden Rain Village apart, there was no trace of it, or of Konan."

"That's certainly troublesome. But there can be workarounds to it." Kabuto noted. "Sasuke is still in the process of recovering, but Kisame was able to report back before he was terminated. He located where the Nine Tails and Eight Tails are, so I'll be going to retrieve them personally."

"Hmmm. It would be prudent to undercut the reason for the war at all if we can capture them. Very well. If it can be done, do what you must."

* * *

Their plan, overall, had been worrying in nature, but as Konan and Gohan had Elder Kai teleport them to their destination, directly at the meeting place of the Five Kage, the foreknowledge that Konan was a reformed but infamous terrorist on this universe's Earth was something Gohan hoped would at least let them get their foot in the door while they worked on getting him a mentor who could teach him how best to use his power.

Elder Kai, as had happened before however, gave no clear sign of caring as he just had them appear before the meeting room door, before two samurais who acted as guards, then brazenly knocked on the door, announced that he was entering, then walked in, him looking back over at the guards', Konan and Gohan's shocked expressions.

"Come on now, will you? We haven't got all day."

"It's the Akatsuki!" One samurai exclaimed after finally recovering from his shock, the many individuals inside turning to face the sound at this, Konan frowning before splinters appeared in her skin, her instinctively preparing for combat, only for her to catch herself, with the breaks in her skin disappearing.

"I haven't come to fight. I'm here to defect to the Allied Shinobi Forces." She announced, before raising her hands in surrender. "Fifth Hokage, I've brought a powerful ally who will need your guidance for 1 hour's time before he can join the War effort."

The people inside all stood from their chairs, gauging Konan and Elder Kai, before sharing a look.

"We also have a few things to report." Elder Kai added. "This lady was just attacked by a man named Madara Uchiha, in his attempt to take the eyes of the Rinnegan. He needed to use their power to complete his Eye of the Moon plan, but we managed to keep it away from him. Now, we just have to go about stopping Madara once and for all."

"Hmph. Why should we trust the words of someone in league with the Akatsuki?" A burly man with dark skin and braided blonde hair asked the others.

"It's the truth." Konan answered, before looking to the woman they'd come to question. "Fifth Hokage, I am Konan, and worked directly with Nagato, the leader of the Akatsuki who used the pseudonym Pain. Nagato used both his life force and the Rinnegan to restore all life lost in our attack on the Leaf Village. Even posthumously, his will lives on through me. Please, teach this warrior I've brought with me to use chakra in the way you do."

"I'm sorry if you haven't noticed, but we're in the middle of a meeting to discuss our methods of warfare." Tsunade responded, holding her hand on her hip. "My star pupil, Sakura Haruno, had to train for years in order to perfect my techniques, when she was already blessed with great talent for chakra control. Why would I or anyone here trust anything you say?"

Konan stared briefly, then closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"I will turn myself in. My only term for surrender is that you at least heed both my request and my warnings."

She knelt herself down, then fully prostrated herself to the people before them, them looking briefly at this, before the Raikage walked forward.

"Even with your supplication, you don't truly expect us to trust you, do you?" He asked.

"We're trying to help for a reason." Gohan spoke up. "This is for the sake of your world. None of us have any obligation to help, but if we can work together, this whole thing can be over today. Please."

Konan slowly rose to a sitting position, head still lowered, yet the people present readied their weapons.

Gohan narrowed his eyes, then walked forward, standing beside Konan.

"Konan, I'm grateful that you're going this far to help me." Gohan said, then narrowed his eyes. "But I'll find some other way to defeat Madara. You won't be safe, as long as you're still here."

"You need Tsunade's guidance to be able to properly fight against him." Konan reminded him. "There isn't much else that can be done. It's a risk that's worth taking."

"You can be my teacher. Even if it's a bit, I'll make the most of it." Gohan replied, before looking to the people present, who stood with their guards up. "Elder Kai, you said that my Mystic state was roughly equal to a Kage's level of power, even without proper use of chakra, right?"

"I'd say so. I still stand by that assessment." Elder Kai replied.

"In that case, would defeating everyone here at least make you consider it?" Gohan asked Tsunade.

The woman raised an eyebrow, curious.

"You're really going to put that much faith in your abilities? That's arrogant of you." She said.

"It's not arrogance if I can back it up." Gohan answered, before his energy burst to life around him, becoming a see-through hue that sent ripples of pressure outwards that made the room quake, looking to them. "Do you plan on proving me wrong?"

"Hmph. You're really planning to push me on this?" Tsunade walked forward.

"If that's what it takes to get the training I need." Gohan answered. "I've already fought Madara head to head once, and the key to winning isn't that far off. I just need your technique."

"In that case, let me see if you're really worth my time." Tsunade answered. "But not here. Come outside."

Gohan watched as she walked past him, him letting his aura down from around himself to look after her.

"Is this a test that you'll be giving me, or a fight?"

"Come outside, and you'll see." Tsunade answered.

Gohan looked to Konan, who rose to her feet, Elder Kai walking up to her.

"I'll take her back for now. We'll watch over you." Elder Kai assured, and, before anyone could answer, he teleported himself and Konan back to the planet of the Kais, Gohan looking after Tsunade and nodding, stepping after her.

—

As Tsunade led him out of the building, she turned to face him, regarding him.

"You don't look like much, but tell me. Have you ever had any natural talent with chakra?" She asked him.

"Not at all. I've never successfully used it before, but if you give me the basic knowledge on how, I'll be able to."

"In that case, Shizune," Tsunade looked to the person standing at the door, who had followed them outside, "set a timer for five minutes. If he can last against me for that long, I'll take him on as a temporary pupil."

"Are you certain, Lady Tsunade?" Shizune called.

"If he really thinks it'll only take a few minutes to learn about my techniques, I'll see. I've already been proven wrong about the impossible once after all." Tsunade answered, before looking to the Saiyan hybrid. "You don't have any issue with that, do you?"

"Not at all." Gohan entered a fighting position, entering his Mystic form, smiling. "Even if I can't pass, I'll at least try to learn from this."

"Let's see then. Ready Shizune?" Tsunade asked while clenching her fist so tightly the joints of her fingers cracked.

"Ready!"

"Start the timer then." Tsunade shifted her feet apart, smirking before speeding forward, her form blurring with her movement, but Gohan's eyes able to track her, him firing a ball of energy at her that Tsunade narrowed her eyes at, weaving out of the way as it whizzed by her ear, exploding potently behind her, Gohan flying forward to meet her charge, Tsunade concentrating before her clenched fist became engulfed in chakra, feet skidding against the ground as she gave a kiai yell, ramming her fist hard against the ground and sending shockwaves rippling through it, Gohan stamping his foot on the ground just when her fist made contact to send himself into the air, letting the inertia carry him forward to her.

He had initially decided to refrain from using his flight ability for the sake of getting the best understanding of how combat was for shinobi, and yet, at the rippling pound of Tsunade's punch, columns of Earth erected themselves abruptly in his path, surrounding him, and he narrowly stopped himself in mid-air, Tsunade haunching herself against one of the pillars that had shot up, her planting her feet firmly against the side of the pillar, to the right of his peripheral, before she kicked herself forward, rocketing forward, him turning to face her just before her fist could send itself into him, her fist bursting through an after image of him as he moved, but Tsunade, tracking his movement with her eyes, released the chakra built up in her fist at an angle to divert her path of movement, her being suspended in mid-air briefly, but another shilling of chakra racing up her arm, being released in a split second of starting its journey, her body entering a path of rotation as her shin became coated in her energy, tearing a ruthless path of destruction around herself, right in the path where Gohan had moved, his eyes widening at her redirecting her movement in an instant, him loudly invoking Kaioken before bracing his arm, swinging up his forearm to block the shin she swung at his arm, the release of chakra at the point of contact sending a burst of force and power rushing over his body like if the combined force and speed of a thousand bullet trains had been combined into one, the backlash of the force sending one of the boulders she'd formed bursting off of the ground to go toppling to the ground, Gohan trying to move his arm, but a shock disrupting his movements, a great burning sensation ripping through his nervous system, his body moving strangely as Tsunade landed on her feet under him, Gohan floating down to the ground but landing, his Kaioken dispersing around him, but him maintaining his balance.

"Still standing? That's something." Tsunade noted. "Even after my chakra shot into your system."

"Is that what this burning feeling is?" Gohan rasped, a shock of electricity tearing through his body.

"My Body Pathway Derangement technique. I disrupted the electrical signals your brain, so it disables your body's ability to do what you want it to. It can be combatted, but not most can figure out how." Tsunade answered, but smirked, before chakra laced her palm again, her thrusting her palm hard against the ground once more, the waves of ripples this time sending Gohan up into the air, his eyes wide as he tried to initiate flight, but his body not responding as he wanted.

Tsunade jumped upwards towards him, body undergoing a front flip above him, leg out and ready for a downward axe, Gohan gritting his teeth before he let down his Mystic form on seeing her descending down onto him, a strong tingling sensation festering between his shoulder blades, rapidly growing more intense but concentrated, before it exploded through his entire nervous system, him transforming into Super Saiyan 2 with an explosion of energy, him becoming fully aware of his body, how his energy coursed through him, before he sent his body into overdrive to act as he commanded it to, him crossing his arms just in time to block Tsunade's Heaven Kick of Pain, the force of the kick fracturing Gohan's bones in his current state, but him being far too used to such injuries to let it slow him down, even as his feet rammed harshly against the ground, the earth fracturing beneath them, Tsunade pushing her sandal against his broken arms, kicking herself back to land a few feet away, but Gohan lowering his arms and feeling them getting limp at his sides, him huffing as met Tsunade's eyes, her speeding forward once again, fist raising itself in preparation for a punch, but it being a feint, her skidding against the ground to do a sweeping kick of his legs that connected.

In spite of this, however, the second she began to approach, Gohan, using his few seconds of experience with resisting chakra entered directly into his system, acted with his gut and pumped energy through his legs to form itself into the compact, divine ki-laden, ground, Tsunade sweeping kick happening just when he decided to release the energy in the form of an explosion, it erupting from underneath her to send her up under him, and as Gohan stood in momentary free fall, directly above her, he reverted to his base, then, with a singular burst in power, reentered his Mystic state, the feeling of the power burning in his body, disrupting his body movements, being shifted about unstably getting meted out briefly with his transformation, but his energy becoming hued crimson — "Times FIVE!" — preceding him clenching his fists and proceeding to ram a fist into Tsunade's chest that sent her hurtling down onto her back against the ground, her eyes going wide as her body bounced back up from the sheer force of the impact, but her not losing her concentration, seeing Gohan bearing down upon her with his second fist at the ready, rocketing it down at her.

In that instant, she pressed one hand back against the ground under her, one shooting up to catch his fist, and tucked her knees up while channeling chakra into all four of her limbs, the sheer impact of the punch against her palm making the ground fracture apart even further, the forearm Tsunade had against the ground fracturing, but her smiling despite her pain, her tucked feet, laden with her chakra, being rammed harshly into Gohan's stomach, the burst of force and power sending him flying back, landing on his side and rolling for a second that Tsunade took to bend her broken arm and then push herself back up to her feet, huffing, upon which Gohan landed in a three point stance, the red hue sustaining itself as he looked to her, Tsunade smirking with challenge, before they both shot forward toward one another at once, Gohan shoving himself back up to his feet and sprinting with inhuman bounds, Tsunade's gait having one chakra padded step that sent pillars of earth shooting up around them, the instant they entered striking distance of one another being preceded by Tsunade throwing a punch towards his torso that he side stepped to right of, a right hook ramming into Tsunade's rib cage that made her grunt, but her channeling chakra into her sandals to root herself to the spot despite the force of the impact worsening from this, her swinging her elbow at him from her outstretched arm, him ducking under it as it whizzed over his head, her releasing the hold against the ground her chakra enabled, her swinging her knee hard into Gohan's jaw and sending him stumbling back a step, the red hue dispersing from his aura, but him not giving up, him still acting, sending a hard punch towards Tsunade's torso that she blocked with both hands stacked atop one another, her getting sent back several feet through the air before her sandals scraped against the ground.

With her chakra having been meted out of his body with his Ultimate form's aura, compounded by his use of Kaioken, his body felt more in his control again, and he raised his hands up, the back of his left hand against his forehead, the back of his right against his left hand's palm, before golden energy formed there, speedily concentrating — "Masenko HA!" — and bursting out of his palms readily, the intensity of his attack great as it bore down against Tsunade, who regarded it with surprise, having never seen an attack of such a type before, her ramming her palm hard against the beam, it pushing her forcibly back a few feet before she used chakra to root her feet against the ground, grunting with strain, only for her to hear Gohan's voice, roaring out, "Times TEN!"

The beam suddenly grew tenfold in its power, Tsunade gritting her teeth as she closed one eye, her elbows bending as her hands struggled to contain it, before she spoke in turn, "Seal of a Hundred!" the lavender rhombus mark on her forehead glowing intensely dark marking spreading across her head as her entire body became endowed with immense strength, her forcibly shoving the Masenko back a foot, rearing her fist back, before harshly uppercutting the beam hard enough to send it flying up into the air, Gohan looking to her, unable to sense it, but him able to feel an intense power emanating from Tsunade then as his beam dissipated.

In spite of this, he didn't give up, him still concentrating on the release of energy he'd put out, him raising a hand to stop it in its rapid ascent into the atmosphere, it concentrating to become a singular ball of energy, Tsunade frowning as Gohan sent down a fragment of it to shoot down at her from above, her looking up, smirking, then looking down at him and moving with much enhanced speed, Gohan barely able to catch glimpses of her movements as she was suddenly before him, him barely able to dodge the blow she sent to him, Tsunade looking back at him, and, in spite of the intense pain he experienced, in spite of her having accessed a great sum of power, Gohan realized that he wore a broad smile upon his face just the same as her, another punch she sent his way, towards his stomach, getting blocked by his less fractured forearm, but it being broken in from the impact of the punch, his eyes widening before Tsunade grasped his now forearm, forcibly tugged him closer, then started sending another fist up to his face to slug him out cold, with her only being stopped in this by another fragment of his Scatter Masenko shooting down at them, her letting go and jumping back.

In spite of him missing, however, Tsunade's eyes saw it stopped before hitting the ground, then flickered over to the first fragment he'd sent down, how it hovered harmlessly above the ground as well, Gohan raising his hand and releasing torrents of smaller bits of concentrated energy that shot forward and hailed towards Tsunade, who blurred as she rushed along to get out of the way of the onslaught, each ball stopping briefly, Gohan aiming, then resumed their barrage against her, one aimed immediately after where she was running, while the other aimed at where she would be in a few seconds' time, Tsunade, seeing this, leaping over the hail of energy projectiles, feet planting against the side of a boulder she'd kicked up, before she launched herself forward directly at him, gravity pulling her down to land against the ground before him, Gohan bracing himself.

He could sense from her enhanced speed and power that he likely couldn't hurt her any longer, in much the same way that he couldn't hurt Madara from how much his divine ki buffered any damage he used with his normal ki, and he devoted himself to his secondary skill, his speed allowing him to dodge Tsunade's attacks while he used fragments of his Scatter Masenko to force her away when he couldn't move in time otherwise, it lasting until he'd run out of fragments, them idly floating about as a mine field, upon which Gohan sped about them as Tsunade pursued, him guiding her into the center of it all, then made all of the balls of energy converge onto her speedily — only for Tsunade to smirk, skidding to a halt to take it, before her fists clenched, then blurred, her delivering a flurry of punches to all fo the balls of energy that sent them all flying away.

"You didn't really think I wouldn't catch on, did you?" Tsunade asked, only for her eyes to widen as she looked to find all the fragments suddenly release waves of energy bullets down at her, Tsunade narrowing her eyes, but her jumping hard into the air, even as the thousands of shards collided with one another and exploded on impact with one another, Gohan jumping up after her, caught up in the heat of the skirmish, and throwing a hard punch at Tsunade that the woman caught, only for Gohan to pull her into him, hugging her body closely to his, before he twisted them, hugging her still as he made them both plummet headfirst towards the ground, Tsunade grunting before she punched him in the stomach repeatedly to get him off of her, before she acted to use her Body Pathway Derangement technique against him once more, more forcefully this time, and it succeeded in disorienting his bodily movements, her instinctively kicking herself away from him, Gohan's body falling head first to the ground still, Tsunade realizing too late that he could break his neck from a fall like that, and as Gohan landed on his scalp, before his body limply fell face first against the ground, Tsunade landed on her feet, her looking to him as his balls of energy dissipated, before she ran up to him in concern, her kneeling down beside him, only for him to suddenly begin moving, hands moving normally to push against the ground, pushing up against the ground.

"That technique is pretty powerful." Gohan muttered as she gave a surprised expression, him reaching a hand to his neck as he grunted with discomfort. "I have to wonder how useful it'd be in a fight."

"You can actually stand up so quickly after that?" Tsunade asked.

"I think my body's starting to adjust to it. When I realized how to do it the first time, I was able to do it right faster the second time." Gohan drowned despite this. "Still, I guess this means I lost? I'm pretty sure that was nowhere near five minutes."

Tsunade frowned, then let her Seal of a Hundred return to its original state, taking a deep breath.

"Honestly, I planned on beating you quickly and getting it over with. But you managed to do all you did quickly." Tsunade answered, hand on her hip. "You gave me a good run for my money, so much that I had to use my Strength of a Hundred Seal. Not many can say they managed that. And that's without using any chakra, is that right?"

"Yes. I only have a small amount of it inside of my body, but the Elder Kai said that if I trained under you, to get an understanding of how to concentrate what little I had into my attacks, I'd be better suited to fighting people here. But your other techniques are completely different. There are so many powers and techniques here that I've never seen or heard of before." He lamented. "I'm sorry for my arrogance, but I only want to help."

"Is there any specific reason you want to help so badly?" She asked him.

"Because it's the right thing to do. If Madara isn't stopped, then it could mean the end of the world if he so chose. The power of the Tailed Beasts shouldn't be in any person's hands, much less someone who plans to use them for his ends."

She gazed at him for a few moments.

"Where exactly do you come from?" She asked him.

"I'm... from another part of the planet." Gohan answered, deciding delving into the whole matter of alternate universes and the like was a bit strange, especially given he didn't fully understand it himself. "It has its own share of problems, but my family's been told to protect it. I guess you could say that's my reason."

"While I do find your power intriguing, teaching you my technique when you've so little chakra to start with, especially in an hour, is just impossible." Tsunade replied. "Unless you have a knack for learning things quickly?"

"Actually, saying it would only be an hour is stretching the truth a little." Gohan rubbed the back of his head and laughed.

"Oh? Explain."

"We have access to a room that distorts time for anyone inside. While time moves normally outside the room, a day outside is a year inside of there. An hour outside would be fifteen days inside."

"Interesting. Even so, my greatest pupil only managed to perfect it after entire years of training. Even with that time-space distortion in place, I don't have the time to leave for several days' time, with a war going on. Do you REALLY think you can learn my techniques in just a fortnight?" Tsunade asked.

"Even just a tiny understanding of it would be enough to even the odds." Gohan said. "I'll help the war effort if I can't get enough power to fight Madara directly."

Tsunade grasped the side of her neck and cracked it.

"Alright. If it's only to take an hour, I'll see what I can do for you, if you can procure evidence that you have the Rinnegan. I doubt it'd be very convincing otherwise for the other Kage."

"I'll... have to ask Konan." Gohan answered. "Those eyes are very important to her, from the sound of it."

He was internally glad that they had at least gotten their foot in the door as they had hoped, he thought.


End file.
